Request Fill 2: Family  in TBoPE series
by Caera1996
Summary: One-shot within TBoPE series. This is the result of jem80's request: "I'd kinda like to see a bit with an older Joanna dealing with someone who doesn't like that her dad is gay or something to that effect. Maybe a family member or something?"


Title: Family  
>Author: Caera1996<br>Rating: PG  
>Disclaimer: Not mine.<br>W/C: 1,324  
>Note  Summary: One-shot within TBoPE series. This is the result of **jem80**'s request: "I'd kinda like to see a bit with an older Joanna dealing with someone who doesn't like that her dad is gay or something to that effect. Maybe a family member or something?" - I hope you enjoy it!  
><strong>Language note:<strong> _oide_ (pronounced "itta") is the Irish-Gaelic equivalent of "stepfather"

Joanna sat in the window seat in the family room, a book resting on her upraised knees. This was her favorite place to read in her grandmother's house, and she was determined to get this book done today. _The Red Pony_ by John Steinbeck was one of the required summer reading books for seventh graders, and therefore it was homework. But, it was still a good story, and Jo thought that John Steinbeck might be a new favorite author. She liked the way he used language. It was different from some of the other things she'd had to read…the words had a different feel to it.

This was the second summer that her dad let her come to Georgia by herself for a couple of weeks, and she'd been having a really good time, and she knew her grandma and her great aunt Charlotte liked for her to be there, too. The only thing that hadn't been so great was that this time Charles was here visiting too, with his son Kyle and Julia, Charles' wife. Joanna liked Julia and Kyle well enough – though Kyle was a little bratty sometimes, he was also only six, so she could overlook that brattiness. Charles, though…she didn't like Charles.

Daddy had explained that because Charles was his cousin, he was Joanna's cousin, once removed. So she didn't have to call him Uncle or anything like that, and though she hadn't said anything to anyone, she was happy about that. She didn't like the idea of calling Charles by the same title she used to call Jim…he didn't deserve it.

Suddenly, the childish voice belonging to Kyle cut across the quiet of the sitting room, "Joanna is bananas! Joanna is bananas! What're you doing? Wanna play cars with me?"

Joanna rolled her eyes, but put her book down. Now that she'd been found, there was no way she was going to get any more peace.

"If I'm so bananas, why do you want to play with me?" she asked teasingly, swinging her legs down and facing the little boy. She reached out to tousle his hair, smiling. He may be annoying, but he sure was cute.

He giggled and ducked away from her. "Cause you're the only other kid here!" he said.

"Oh, well, in that case, how can I say no? Where are your cars?"

"I have them in the TV room. Come on!"

"Okay, let me go put my book away and get a drink and I'll meet you there. Do you want a juicebox?"

"Grape! No, fruitpunch!" he shouted, already running out of the room.

Shaking her head – _I never acted like that, she thought – _she marked her place in the book and stood to stretch. She ran upstairs to the room she was using and tossed her book on her bed, then headed back down the stairs. Just as she was about to enter the kitchen, she heard Charles talking to someone, and she caught her father's name. Pausing outside the door, she stopped to listen.

"I don't understand why Leonard had to send her here the same week we're in town, Ma," Charles said, talking to her great-aunt Charlotte. "I don't care who Leonard shares a bed with, but I don't want his daughter talking to Kyle about that…gay lifestyle," he said, as if the words had a bad taste. "It's disgusting, two men together like that. I bet she ends up queer too, living with the two of them."

Anger rose in Joanna, flooding her eyes with tears and making her face hot. She didn't hear what Charlotte replied, if anything, because she was too busy struggling to contain her impulse to run back upstairs and shut herself in her room. She knew that wouldn't help anything, but she didn't know what else to do. Quietly backing away from the door, the promise to play with Kyle and his cars all but forgotten, she started to retreat up the stairs back to her room.

Then, though, she paused. This wasn't the first time she'd heard someone say something nasty about her dads. But this was different…because this was family. And it hurt more than some random stranger or some stupid kid.

Turning, she went back downstairs and, heart pounding, pushed through the kitchen door.

"Hello Aunt Charlotte, Charles," she said.

"Hi there Jo," Charlotte replied. "How are ya, honey?"

"Good, thank you," Charles looked away from her, a sour expression on his face, and Jo took a breath, and raised her chin.

"Charles, Kyle asked if I would play with his cars with him, so I was going to get him a juicebox and go in the tv room with him. Do you not want me to?"

Charles and Charlotte exchanged a glance and Joanna continued before either could respond.

"I mean, if you're afraid Kyle's going to catch something from my family, or something like that?"

"Uh, no Jo…it'd be great if you want to play with Kyle for a while," Charles said uncomfortably.

"Oh, okay," Jo said, ignoring the flush she could feel spreading across her face. "I just thought I'd check. Just in case you thought I was disgusting, or something ridiculous like that."

In the resounding quiet that followed that statement, Jo got two fruit punch juiceboxes out of the refrigerator, then turned to leave. Her hand on the door, she paused again. Squeezing her eyes closed, she decided she had one more thing to say.

"I don't talk to six year olds about adult relationships, by the way. And if Kyle asks about Jim, I'll just tell him to ask you. Okay?"

Not bothering to wait for an answer, Jo pushed through the door and went to join Kyle for a rousing game of…whatever it was they were going to play.

Later that night, when she called home to talk to her dad and Jim, Joanna decided not say anything about Charles. There was nothing they could do from California, and she knew it would just upset her father, who was still very protective of her, especially about things like this.

"You have a good day today, Baby?" Leonard asked.

"Yeah," she said, after a moment. "I got some reading done, went swimming, played cars with Kyle…it was good."

"Ooh, played cars with Kyle…that does sound like fun," Jim said.

Joanna giggled. "Okay, that part wasn't so fun, but Kyle had fun, so it was worth it."

"You're a good person, Baby," Leonard said. He paused. "You sure everything's okay? You're not as chatty as you usually are."

"I'm just tired, Daddy," Joanna said. "Everything's fine."

"Okay…I can smell dinner burning, so I'm gonna go. If you want to call again tonight, you go right ahead. I love you Baby."

"Okay Daddy, I love you too." She heard a click, and it was just her and Jim on the phone.

"Charles still a jerk?" Jim asked, having realized the same thing that Bones had – something wasn't right – and having some idea of what it could be.

On the other end of the line, Joanna sighed. "Yeah, he is. But it's okay. I handled it."

"I have no doubt you did, sweetie. Just remember, you can't change what other people do and say…"

"You can only control what you do and say," Joanna finished. "Got it."

"And if you need me to come beat someone up, just let me know. I'll send Sam."

Joanna laughed at that. "Okay, thank you."

Jim smiled, happy to hear a real laugh from her. "Sweet dreams. Love you."

"Goodnight_ Oide_. I love you too."

And that, Joanna decided, was what mattered. She had her daddy and her _oide_, and they loved her. Nothing anyone ever said would change what they had as a family. Maybe someday everyone would understand that their family was just as real. And if they didn't, well…Joanna was secure in the knowledge that she could handle that too.


End file.
